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A number of Indian cricketers are known for their skills beyond the sport. Veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan is good at playing the flute. Former cricketers Kapil Dev and Ajit Agarkar have tasted success in professional golf competitions.
Recently retired batter Suresh Raina is a talented singer and former Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is a karate champion, while World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh acted in quite a few Punjabi movies as a child artist.
Being athletes, cricketers are expected to be good at dancing, since it involves footwork and wristwork as well. But that is not quite the case, at least not in Indian cricket.
Yes, the likes of Virat Kohli, Yuvraj, Dhawan, and Harbhajan Singh are very good at shaking a leg. It just seems to come naturally to them. At the same time, a number of prominent Indian cricketers wouldn’t pass the dance floor test.
In this fun feature, we look at five Indian cricketers who can compete for the title of being the worst dancer!
#5 Dinesh Karthik
Team India’s experienced wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik demonstrates some amazing footwork when it comes to his hitting skills. He makes great use of the crease and plays some incredible strokes all around the ground. But the same cannot be said about his dancing.
Back in 2008, he took part in a dance reality show where Indian cricketers were paired with a movie celebrity. DK had Nigaar Khan as his partner. Although he did give it his best shot, the Tamil Nadu cricketer’s shortcomings were pretty much evident.
A few years back, Harbhajan cheekily trolled Karthik by posting a flashback video of his dance performance from the reality show.
Harbhajan, who was paired with actor Mona Singh, won the dance competition. Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, Vinod Kambli, and Nikhil Chopra were the other former Indian cricketers who took part in the show.
#4 MS Dhoni
There are perhaps very few things MS Dhoni is not good at. Dancing is definitely one of them.
In an ICC video posted in 2019, Team India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja let out some dressing room secrets. Asked who was the worst dancer in the team, he took Dhoni's name with a mischievous smile.
Although he tries to avoid shaking a leg, MSD has been forced to give proof of his not-so-great dancing skills more than once.
At a friend’s wedding last year, his dance step was restricted to sitting in a chair and moving his body, even as his better half, Sakshi, attempted to get the best out of him.
At an event hosted by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan a few years ago, Dhoni attempted to replicate some of SRK’s steps and was clearly out of sync when it came to his footwork.
#3 Ravichandran Ashwin
In Ravichandran Ashwin’s own words, “dance is something that is completely out of the syllabus for me”. Yet, to his credit, the Indian off-spinner has been part of a few dance videos on social media.
At the height of the “Vaathi Coming” craze, Ashwin and a couple of other Indian cricketers featured a short clip in which they were seen attempting a viral step from the song.
In a chat with all-rounder Shardul Thakur during Team India's tour of South Africa earlier this year, Ashwin candidly admitted about his dancing skills:
“I look at myself, and I think I want to dance in a certain way, but I definitely cannot."
No wonder Ashwin prefers sticking to playing and talking cricket, which is very much his comfort zone.
#2 Hardik Pandya
If Jadeja termed Dhoni the worst dancer in the Indian team, current skipper Rohit Sharma gave the same ‘honor’ to all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
In an ICC video posted ahead of the 2019 ODI World Cup, the Indian opener was asked to pick the worst dancer in the Indian team. He named Hardik.
While Rohit’s revelation came as a bit of a surprise, considering Hardik is known as a fun-loving personality, we did some research and stumbled upon a dance video of the all-rounder from a wedding function.
We came to the conclusion that the Hitman was spot on with his observations.
#1 Cheteshwar Pujara
This was the easiest choice. Cheteshwar Pujara would be the first to admit that dancing and him don’t go hand in hand!
His teammates cajoled him into shaking a leg after India’s historic Test series win over Australia in 2018-19. Pujara’s footwork on the field was pristine as he amassed over 500 runs and was named Player of the Series.
While celebrating the win, young wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant urged his teammates to do an impromptu dance step. It was apparently an attempt at mimic Pujara’s unique walking style. Rather hilariously, the No. 3 batter could not do a great job of imitating himself.
Cricket.com.au shared a video of Team India’s celebrations with the caption:
“Cheteshwar Pujara: can bat, can't dance?”
In a recent Q&A session on Twitter, Pujara was asked if there was improvement in his dancing. He cheekily responded:
"Sorry to disappoint, no changes whatsoever."
Who do you think is the worst dancer in Indian cricket? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Also Read: Asia Cup 2022: 3 changes Team India can make for their Super 4 match against Afghanistan
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